Originally the transactions would be recorded in daybooks, cashbooks, or journals and then transferred to a ledger.Bookkeeping software has now pretty much replaced the need for physical books.Why do small businesses need bookkeeping?

The benefit to investing out of state, is that it forces you to develop the systems and the mindset from day one that you are not going to be physically going to these properties and fixing things, you'll be training yourself in "leadership" type tasks and systems and that will make it easier in my mind to scale. 

With that foreign entity filing, you are often required to have a resident agent within that state unless you have a physical office address or chose to use your personal residence, which I wouldn't recommend.  

Since we, personally/physically, won’t be there, could we pay less in rent?

They physically inspect it and would make that determination, regardless of what you think.

Oh rehab... the other investor and I were thinking a total of 75k in physical rehab to both homes, 80k for the installation of a beautiful pool area, and about 50k for the interior design on the homes.To anyone who is like WOW those are big numbers for this STR, we want to present a boutique-style stay and experience, and it's two homes.

I want to nip this in the bud before it escalates to anything physical.

In addition to the FCRA, the other major risk is identity theft.In order to even be permitted to run credit reports, my PM company had to go through a physical site visit from a representative of the credit bureau to ensure we have physical (locking filing cabinets, etc), electronic (password protected computer lock screens, etc), and procedural (written policies) safeguards in place specifically to prevent the release of SSNs and other personally identifiable information (PII).So legally the PM cannot and should not share a tenant's SSN with you.Note: I have no affiliation with the Law Office referenced in the above links.

Its effectively a physical exam for your house where it is a general inspection for all items.

However, I'm concerned for his safety/wellbeing if I force him to leave.